I received a note from Ivan de la Guardia, the General Secretary of UCOC, (Union de Capitanes y Oficiales de Cubierta), the union that represents the Tugboat Captains and Officers of the Panama Canal. He explained about the union and what the captains do here in Panama. I bring you his side of the story.
The floating equipment of the Panama Canal is manned by highly-trained and skilled professionals coming from renowned maritime academies. Within that fleet there are the tugboat sections, both in the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the Canal.
The tugboats and the dredging vessels that navigate and work the canal everyday are the true workhorse of the waterway. Without them the Canal could not function since we are the mainstays for safety, preservation of the waterway and operations. Our critical duties will become even more sensible on the new Locks since there will be no locomotives, and we will propel and stop the vessels in to and out of the locks. Without us, there will be no Canal, nor today, nor tomorrow.
As a team, we work with all the other workers of the Canal, ensuring a safe and efficient passage of the transiting vessels. However, in more than a few occasions we had to “step it up” and save the day, averting accidents and disasters, not only because it´s our job but because we are proud on the dependability that the Canal and the world´s commerce has on us, all that because we are the first line of defense and the guardians of the safety on the Panama Canal waters and we feel very proud of it.

The Union of Captains and Deck Officers (UCOC) is a union of the Panama Canal Authority, was formally legitimized on September 11, 2009 by a resolution of the Labor Relations Board of the ACP thus becoming the exclusive representative for the bargaining unit covering all the officers of the tugboats fleet, dredging equipment, floating cranes and barges drilling and blasting equipment of the Panama Canal Authority.
The union is composed of merchant marine officers and navy officers, graduated from prestigious academies from all over the world, with many years of sailing experience.
As workers of the Panama Canal, we have every day a different task to attend, and not even one maneuver is equal to the other. It might be day or night time, dusk or dawn, rain or sun, and of course, there is always the surprise factor, in other words, when something fails. All this, combined with the continuous incorporation of new technologies, different propulsion systems and even new operating procedures, force the tug masters to be on a perpetual training status, despite the lack of training supervision and transparency by the canal´s administration.
The union of Captains and Deck Officers aims primarily to represent the interests of the membership asserting the rights enshrined in the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Panama, International Maritime Regulations, as well as enforcing the collective barging agreement and regulations which come from with the Canal Administration. Regretfully, the Canal’s Administration has not shown the capability nor the responsibility to take care of the tug fleet, which today, due to maintenance, lack of training, and inferior technology issues is operating under deplorable conditions, only saved by the prowess and superior skills of our captains.
UCOC´s members represent a very special and critical segment of the Canal operations community, enforcing and preserving safety, ensuring efficiency in all transits, but above all, being there when the canal needs us. We are proud to be the very capable masters and maritime officers that dedicate our efforts to maintain the operational integrity of our canal and also having the satisfaction of being the heart and soul of the waterway.
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